Khaïrat, Abu-Bakr

(b Cairo, 10/27 April 1910; d Cairo, 25 Oct 1963). Egyptian composer and architect. As a child he had direct contact with the masters of traditional music who often visited his father's home. He began violin lessons at the age of five with a Turkish teacher, but he became more interested in the piano, which he continued to study for many years, later giving the first performance of his Piano Concerto in C minor op.10. However, architecture was his chosen profession, and after graduating from the university he received a scholarship to study this in France, where he also had private lessons in the piano, harmony and composition with Conservatoire teachers. Back in Egypt he had a successful career as an architect: he designed the complex of the Academy of Arts, comprising the ballet, cinema and drama institutes, the conservatory and the Darwish concert hall. He also continued to compose. His early works are in a romantic style without specific Egyptian features, but he then searched for a national idiom, interesting himself in some aspects of urban folk music. This resulted in, among other works, the colourful Second Symphony ‘La folklorique’ in G minor op.21, where in the second movement he used the tune of a ‘stick dance’ and in the third the ‘handkerchief dance’ popular at Alexandrian weddings. He came closer to the Egyptian spirit in choral orchestral works, such as Lamma bada (performed under Münch at the opening concert in the Darwish hall), a polyphonic version of the ancient monodic mūwashshah.

Among Khaïrat's other nationalist compositions are the Suite folklorique, the Third Symphony and the overture Isis; works without obvious Egyptian traits include the piano concerto, the Poem op.18 for piano, the piano sonatas, the Sextet for flute and strings, and other chamber pieces. Khaïrat belonged to the first generation of Egyptian composers to draw on Western methods, a generation whose enthusiasm often exceeded their expertise, though their role as pioneers is unquestionable. Western rhythmic and melodic influences are present in Khaïrat's style, but his melody has an obvious national flavour, particularly when it is derived from folk music or traditional modes such as the higaz (with augmented 2nd). He was the first Egyptian composer to use sonata form, facing the problem of adapting the scheme to essentially lyrical oriental material; sometimes, as a result, the development section is curtailed. Founder-director of the Cairo Conservatory (1959–63), he received the state prize for composition and other honours. His orchestral music was performed in the USSR, Romania and Yugoslavia, and some of it was recorded in the 1960s.

WORKS

(selective list)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Z. Nassār: Al musīqa al Misriyya al mutatawwirah [Egyptian art music] (Cairo, 1990), 49–59

'A.T. Zakī: A'alām al-musīqua al-Misriyyah'abr 150 sanah [Great figures of Egyptian music through 150 years] (Cairo, 1990), 223–5

S. El Kholy: Al qawmiyyah fi musīqa al-qarn al-ishreen [Nationalism in 20th-century music] (Kuwait, 1992), 304–13

SAMHA EL KHOLY